This invention relates to a cipher device for utilization within a data processing environment and, more particularly, to a cipher device for performing a product block ciphering process for enciphering and deciphering digital data to ensure complete security and privacy of data within a data processing environment.
With the increasing use of telecommunications in computer system networks, the very long cable connections between terminals or I/O devices and control units and the removability of storage media, there is an increasing concern over the interception or alteration of data because physical protection cannot normally be guaranteed. Cryptography has been recognized as one type of mechanism for achieving data security and privacy in that it protects the data itself rather than the medium of transmitting the data.
Various systems have been developed in the prior art for enciphering messages to maintain the security and privacy of data communications. One such system is the block cipher system, which is a substitution technique, in which the entire block is enciphered in accordance with a predetermined cipher key. The resulting substituted message is unintelligible ciphertext which cannot be understood without knowledge of the cipher key. An advantage of the substitution technique operating in accordance with a predetermined cipher key is that the deciphering operation is easily implemented by a reverse application of the cipher key. Further teachings on the design and principles of substitution techniques may be found in "Communication Theory of Secrecy Systems" by C. E. Shannon, Bell System Technical Journal, Vol. 28, pages 656-715, Oct. 1949, and in "Cryptography and Computer Privacy" by H. Feistel, Scientific American, Vol. 228, No. 5, pages 15-23, May 1973. Both Shannon and Feistel expound on a product cipher system in which two or more ciphers are successively combined, as for example, by successive stages of nonlinear substitution followed by linear transformation.
Various product ciphering systems have been developed in the prior art for improving the security and privacy of data within a data processing system. U.S. Pat. No. 3,798,359 issued Mar. 19, 1974 relates to a product cipher system which combines linear and nonlinear transformations of a cleartext message with the transformations being a function of a cipher key. In addition to controlling the transformation, the cipher key also controls various register substitutions and modulo-2 additions of partially ciphered data within the ciphering system. However, the system disclosed in this patent does not disclose any of the details of the precise mapping of cipher key bits by the key router to the modulo-2 adders, the details of the particular nonlinear transformation carried out internal to the substitution function boxes or the particular permutation carried out by the diffuser, all of which have a significant effect on the quality of the cipher operation. Also, the cipher key is divided into small groups with the cipher key bits within each group being shifted for each iteration of the cipher operation. Because the size of the group is small, the effect of each group of cipher key bits is restricted over a limited area of the cipher operation which also has a significant effect on the quality of the cipher operation. Additionally, only two types of substitution function boxes are used in this system selected as a function of a cipher key bit only which likewise has a significant effect on the quality of the cipher operation.
Related to this patent is U.S. Pat. No. 3,796,830 issued Mar. 12, 1974 which is also directed to a product cipher system in which the block of cleartext is processed on a segmented basis with each segment being serially transformed in accordance with a portion of the cipher key. However, the system disclosed in this patent is serial in nature which reduces throughput speed and if rearranged to a parallel block system would add significant complexity to the hardware implementation of such a system. Furthermore, this system like that of the related patent is limited to only two types of substitution function boxes selected as a function of a cipher key bit only which likewise has a significant effect on the quality of the cipher operation.